Meat Loaf leaves a bad taste, again

One year after his disastrous performance at the AFL grand final, the ageing rocker is again facing a barrage of criticism for his out-of-tune warbling, this time at an endorsement rally for US presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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The 65-year-old Bat Out Of Hell singer stood alongside Romney and other musicians to belt out America The Beautiful during a weekend campaign stop in Defiance, Ohio.

But his spirited rendition — some have called it yelling — failed to impress many.

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Indeed, gossip website Gawker described his performance as sounding as ''if it were emanating from a dying cat that just had its tail stomped on'', while others urged someone to ''take the words right out of his mouth''.

Meat Loaf, wearing a black silky shirt with sequined sleeves, earlier told the crowd that he had never endorsed a political candidate before, but felt the need to throw his support behind the the Republican presidential nominee because ''this is the most important election in the history of the United States''.

"There is thunderstorms over Europe. There are hail storms — and I mean major hail storms — in the Middle East. There are storms brewing through China, through Asia, through everywhere, and there's only one man that on the other night when President Barack Obama, God bless him, said to Mitt Romney, 'The Cold War is over'."

He was referring to last week's presidential debate, during which President Barack Obama criticised Romney for once declaring Russia America's top geopolitical foe.

Meat Loaf went on to say to the audience: "Let me hear y'all repeat after me. Mitt Romney!... 'Cause he can stand in the storm."

His singing was widely panned on Twitter, where users also complained that videos of his performance were being pulled from YouTube.

''Meatloaf endorsing Romney is one of the best wins for the Democrats ever!,'' tweeted @TheReverendSJC.

And while Meat Loaf urged the crowd at the rally to "go out and vote," it appears he may not be able to do so, with reports that he had not registered to vote in his home state of Texas by the deadline.